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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26237509">An Uneasy Truce</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenLilyRose/pseuds/RavenLilyRose'>RavenLilyRose</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Separate, Not Apart [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Gen, POV Spock (Star Trek), Tarsus IV, Vulcan Language</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:07:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,742</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26237509</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenLilyRose/pseuds/RavenLilyRose</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>"Jim, you've gotta eat something! You can't just decide not to eat for a day and a half!"</em>
</p><p> </p><p>--</p><p>Jim is struggling, and Spock helps him. McCoy is confused and worried, but Spock explains.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James T. Kirk &amp; Leonard "Bones" McCoy, James T. Kirk &amp; Spock, Leonard "Bones" McCoy &amp; Spock</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Separate, Not Apart [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1826005</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>174</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>An Uneasy Truce</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello, my lovely people!</p><p>This one has been sitting in my notes for a little while, but I just wasn't happy with what I had come up with. I think this is pretty good now, but please let me know what you think.</p><p>You might have noticed that the rating on this one is higher than on the others, but there was enough talk here of eating disorders that I thought it might be better. Take care of yourselves, and get help if you need it.</p><p>Otherwise, this one is fairly self-explanatory. Just as long as you know that Spock and Jim have been friends since they were kids and are essentially brothers, you've got everything you need. (And a basic idea of the fact that Tarsus IV = famine + genocide.)</p><p>I did use a little bit of Vulcan, so here's the mini dictionary.</p><p>I love you all!</p><p> </p><p>  <span class="u">Vulcan-English Dictionary</span><br/><em>rai - no<br/>rom - good<br/>t'etek - plural possessive prefix; our<br/>hali-sutra - crew (lit. vessel-crew)<br/>ha - yes<br/>ri - not<br/>fai-tor - know</em></p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Jim, you've gotta eat something! You can't just decide not to eat for a day and a half!"</p><p>The Chief Medical Officer and Captain of the Federation Starship <em>Enterprise</em> were sitting at a table in a secluded corner of the Officers' Mess. </p><p>"I can't eat, Bones, and you sitting here and yelling at me about it isn't going to change that."</p><p>The young Captain's head was in his hands, and his words were tired, with the intonation of an argument too often repeated. </p><p>"And why can't you eat? You haven't given me a single valid reason, medical or otherwise!"</p><p>McCoy's patience was reaching its breaking point, and Spock decided it was time to step in. At the moment, their argument was quiet enough that it was not drawing attention, but if left alone any longer, it would escalate to a point where more than his enhanced hearing could pick it up. </p><p>In any case, he had a solution to their dilemma. </p><p>His decision made, Spock strode across the room and sat down at the free seat at their table. There was a plate of food in front of Jim, piled with different foods. Dr. McCoy had clearly given up on trying to get Jim to eat healthy food and moved on to attempting to make him eat any food at all. Spock reached out and moved the plate away from Jim, earning himself a grateful look in return.</p><p>With the space in front of him now clear, Jim let his head fall to rest on his folded arms.</p><p>"Is it an 'off day,' James, or a 'sensitive day?'"</p><p>McCoy shot him a confused look, his eyes flickering back and forth to the plate of food that had previously been in front of Jim.</p><p>"Off day," Jim muttered into his arms. "Nothing seems right."</p><p>"Have you been keeping yourself hydrated?" Spock said. He kept his tone intentionally light, not putting any more weight on the question than he would on a report on the ship's status.</p><p>"Yeah, mostly. I had some coffee this morning, and I've been drinking water."</p><p>Jim still hadn't lifted his head, but Spock nodded in response anyway, attempting to keep the conversation as normal as possible. He pulled two meal cards from a small pocket in his uniform and handed them to McCoy, gesturing at the synthesizers. </p><p>The Doctor was not happy to be sent away, but he allowed Spock to have things his way. With the Doctor gone, Spock turned to Jim and began to speak in an undertone.</p><p>"Can you identify what caused today to be an 'off day'?"</p><p>"Not just today," was Jim's only response, and even that was muttered into his arms.</p><p>Spock remained patient. He had, over the many years he had known Jim, learned that the best way to deal with the man was not to force it. Instead, one had to be patient and do things his way.</p><p>"Can you identify what caused both yesterday and today to be 'off days'?"</p><p>"I dunno. I'm tired."</p><p>Spock took a deep breath. </p><p>"Has anything taken place with any of your children?"</p><p>
  <em>"Rai."</em>
</p><p>Still following Jim's lead, Spock also switched languages. While he had mostly gotten over his phobia of Standard, he still frequently found it easier to be vulnerable in other languages.</p><p><em>"Rom,"</em> he said while thinking of other possibilities that would have set Jim off. <em>"T'etek'hali-sutra?"</em> Our crew?</p><p><em>"Rai. Ha! Ri fai-tor!"</em> He finally lifted his head out of his hands, looking at Spock with an imploring look. <em>"Ri fai-tor,"</em> he said again, this time sounding utterly defeated.</p><p>Spock was about to respond when Doctor McCoy returned to the table with two trays. One of them had a tall cup with a protein shake and a staw in it and a small bowl of applesauce. The other had a vegetarian pasta dish and a bowl of fruit. He set both in front of Spock and handed back the two meal cards.</p><p>"Thank you, Doctor. James, I have a drink for you. Will you drink it?"</p><p>"Yes, fine. Need to drink anyway."</p><p>Keeping the pasta for himself, Spock pushed the other tray in front of Jim. McCoy sat back down and was about to say something to Jim, who was still stirring the shake around with the straw and hadn't drunk any yet, but Spock stopped him with a look. He picked up his own fork and began to eat his own food.</p><p>Slowly, as Spock ate his food normally, and McCoy stopped insisting Jim eat, Jim started to drink the shake. The three of them sat there for twenty minutes, Spock eating his food, Jim drinking his shake, and all three of them talking. The conversation was stunted at first because of Jim's unwillingness to speak in sentences more than three words long, but when they didn't mention his issue with food, but rather spoke of other topics, he began to speak up.</p><p>After twenty minutes, a yeoman came into the Officers' Mess with an issue that only the Captain could solve. He had finished the shake but had only eaten one spoonful of applesauce before he had pushed the bowl away. Still, it was far better than had he eaten nothing.</p><p>As soon as Jim was out of the room, McCoy turned to Spock.</p><p>"You wanna tell me what that was about?"</p><p>"I will tell you, but not here." He picked the napkin up from his lap and wiped his mouth, before setting it on his tray. </p><p>Doctor McCoy was still looking at him as though he were a particularly interesting puzzle, so Spock prompted him. "Your office, perhaps?"</p><p>"Yeah, sure. We can talk there."</p><p>The two picked up Spock and Jim's trays, and placed them in the appropriate receptacles, before leaving the room. </p><p>The walk toward sickbay, where McCoy's office was located, was quick but silent. Both were too busy thinking about Jim's struggles to engage in their traditional banter or to make light conversation. </p><p>When they reached McCoy's office, the Doctor poured himself a drink. He offered one to Spock, but the Vulcan refused. Once they were both seated, Spock broke the silence. </p><p>"I will not promise to explain everything, nor will I give every detail. However, you are his doctor and a very good friend, and James does not wish to keep the information from you, he merely does not want to tell you himself. What is it you wish to know?"</p><p>During his short speech, the doctor's expression had moved through many emotions ranging from upset, to touched, to worried, to determined. Despite many years of knowing and working with humans, it still surprised Spock how openly they displayed their emotions. He would not claim that Vulcans expressed no emotion (at least not to himself, to the humans, on the other hand...), but they were certainly more sparing in such expressions. </p><p>"Alright," he leaned forward resting his forearms on the desk, "what's the source of this?"</p><p>"I believe you already know, Doctor."  Spock's tone was bland.</p><p>McCoy looked confused for a moment before his face twisted. "Tarsus IV."</p><p>"Yes. James has managed to heal very well, but some days are still... difficult."</p><p>"You mentioned off days and sensitive days?"</p><p>"Yes. Off days are days on which food seems, as James describes it, 'off.' On such days he can rarely bring himself to eat."</p><p>"But he can drink?"</p><p>"While food was very scarce, they had abundant water. We discovered that nourishment that he could drink was an effective psychological work-around to get him to eat food. Even on off days, he still wishes to eat, he simply cannot bring himself to."</p><p>The doctor nodded. "And 'sensitive days'?"</p><p>"I do not know how much you know of the time he spent on the colony, but suffice it to say that there were several people under James' care whom he was responsible for feeding. On sensitive days, he becomes hyper-aware of the people around him and whether they are eating or not. It is worse on the ship because he is responsible for the well-being of the entire crew. He is very sensitive to who is eating on such days, and watches the crew eat instead of eating himself."</p><p>"Did he never get help for this?"</p><p>"Doctor, that these days occur so rarely is the result of a decade's work with assorted doctors and therapists. It is unlikely that he will improve any more than he has."</p><p>"Trauma always leaves a scar," McCoy mused. He seemed to be speaking only to himself, so Spock refrained from answering. </p><p>"Is there anything else you need to know?" </p><p>They were reaching the end of what Spock was willing to share, but there might have still been things the doctor needed to know. Despite frequently trading insults with the man, Spock did trust him when it came to James Kirk. He knew that McCoy would not push further than was acceptable, and would back off if asked to.</p><p>"How does Jim feel about all of this? How does he deal with it?"</p><p>"He has developed what he refers to as 'an uneasy truce' with both food and his trauma. He does not like it, but he has learned to deal with it. On days where he is struggling, do not act differently around him. To do so only makes his days worse and makes it more difficult for him to 'come back,' as he calls it."</p><p>"Makes sense," the doctor agreed. "Thanks for telling me, Spock. I can't help him if I don't have any information."</p><p>Spock stood and pushed his chair in, preparing to leave. "I am aware Doctor. That is why I shared the information with you."</p><p>"Yeah. And we'll both watch out for him now, right?"</p><p>"Of course," Spock agreed. "Good day, Doctor."</p><p>And with that, he turned and left the room, mentally organizing the list of things that he needed to do or delegate, but sparing a corner of his mind to worry about James. It seemed, sometimes, that he had begun to worry about James since they met as small children, and hadn't stopped since. Though he wished sometimes that his brother would avoid trouble more often, he knew that he wouldn't be James if he didn't thrive on trouble.</p><p>In any case, there was no way that he would stop getting in trouble, so Spock would simply have to be there to get him out and support him afterward.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <span class="u">Vulcan-English Dictionary</span>
  <br/>
  <em>rai - no<br/>rom - good<br/>t'etek - plural possessive prefix; our<br/>hali-sutra - crew (lit. vessel-crew)<br/>ha - yes<br/>ri - not<br/>fai-tor - know</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I hope you enjoyed this. Take care of yourselves and let me know what you think or if you have any questions/comments/ideas.</p><p>Make good life choices, be kind people, I love you all!<br/>~RavenLilyRose</p></blockquote></div></div>
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